In some power plants, particularly nuclear power plants, the heat sink is provided using water taken from natural watercourses (sea water, river water). This water is pumped by a pumping device in order to inject it into the cooling circuit.
However, this water may contain algae, marine sediments, river detritus, etc. Of course, the water is usually filtered to prevent these elements from dogging the cooling circuit. For this purpose, filtering drums are used upstream of the circuit.
These drums can be rotated to eject clogging elements (called “clogging agents” below). The rotational speed of these drums can be varied according to their degree of clogging. This degree of clogging is measured as a function of a pressure difference, or of water levels observed on either side of a wall in which the filtering drum is placed, as shown for example in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, a filtering drum TAM typically comprises screens for filtering untreated water E1 and delivering filtered water E2 through outlets OS. Referring now to FIG. 2, this filtered water E2 can be provided to a pumping device DP supplying the water circuit (not shown) of a power production facility. A sensor CAP (for example measuring the water level h in a chamber containing the drum TAM) can give an indication of the degree of clogging: for example, the greater the clogging of the drum the higher the level h. Specifically, the sensor CAP can measure the difference in water level between the water inside and outside the filtering drums (referred to as “screen headloss”). In general, the measurement from the sensor CAP is used by a rotation control unit (not shown) for the drum, in particular in order to apply the necessary rotation speed to the drum for the most effective filtering.
When the clogging agents are such that excessive screen headloss is observed and it then becomes difficult to use this water supply E2, an operator (human) may decide to shut down the pumping device, which can have consequences leading to shutdown of a generator.
Currently, the decision is made by a human operator. The stakes involved in this decision are significant because one needs to:                ensure that the influx of clogging agents is indeed of the type requiring the shutdown of the pumping device, possibly the shutdown of a generator, and        where appropriate, anticipate a massive influx of clogging agents in order to take the necessary measures to avoid damage to the equipment of the production facility.        
The present invention improves the situation.